During my visit to Kuala Lumpur, when a friend asked, in Cantonese, if I have been to “The River of Gold” yet, I had to pause for a second. I do know the Cantonese name of Sungei Wang Plaza but I just always associate the name with a coffee shop in Ipoh. Anyway, as someone who suffers from Mall-itis, Sungei Wang Plaza was of course one of the malls that I just had to visit.

I had been to Sungei Wang Plaza before but that was a long time ago when I was a kid. I do remember that it didn’t look like how it is today and the most significant memory of Sungei Wang Plaza I have from my visit many years ago was that I entered the Gents by accident but believe me, I didn’t see “anything”!

When I was in Sungei Wang in late March, I noticed this drinks stall, “Cool Blog”. As a blogger, I found it extremely amusing. To me, a blog has only one meaning but as you can see from the banner, they are selling Chocolate Blog and Bandung Blog. I didn’t try any “blog” but it looks like it’s prepared from shaved ice. Cool!

The funny thing was that after visiting Sungei Wang, coming across Cool Blog and also hopping over to Lowyat Plaza for a short visit (or was it the other way round?), that night, I forgot if Cool Blog was in Sungei Wang or Lowyat Plaza and had to get my friend to refresh my memory. I guess my whirlwind trip has just overloaded my brains!

One of the few places that I visited when I was on a 9-day holiday at the end of March earlier this year was Putrajaya, the federal administrative centre of Malaysia. I actually was supposed to visit it at the end of January but unfortunately, something came up at the last minute and I had to give it a pass.

Looking back these photos of Putrajaya, my trip seems so long ago. It was like a dream. I thought that I took quite a few photos but I only found four that are good enough to be published. So sad!

The main mosque in Putrajaya
Olympus Tough 6000

This is the main mosque in Putrajaya, right smack in the middle of the “city”. Yes, Putrajaya is like a toy city. It reminded me of Social City, a Facebook game, where on a normal day, you hardly see anyone at all except for workers; gardeners, sweepers or guards.

Office of the Prime Minister of Malaysia
Panasonic Lumix DMC LX-3

This is the Prime Minister’s Office, one of the more colourful buildings in Putrajaya. The sheer size of the building where our Prime Minister works is very impressive. I also like the well-kept garden. From afar, it looked like not even a strand of grass was out of place. Of course, we didn’t go too near since we had no business with the Prime Minister!

Palace of Justice in Putrajaya
Olympus Tough 6000

This is Istana Kehakiman or Palace of Justice. It is one of the more majestic buildings in Putrajaya. Well, it probably is so because it has a name to live up to! Driving around Putrajaya passing by so many huge buildings left me wondering if there really are so many people working inside them. Buildings like these could easily house thousands of employees!

PICC
Olympus Tough 6000

This is Putrajaya International Convention Centre or PICC in short. It’s so huge and sits atop a hill, one can never miss it. We didn’t drive up but let me tell you, the people who were standing by the side of the Convention Centre looked like ants to us. Yes, that’s how high up they were!

One thing I noticed about Putrajaya is that it’s colourless. Buildings are either in brown or stone grey. Maybe these are the colours that require the least maintenance but this just makes it so difficult to distinguish one building from another. One could easily get lost in the city! One tip though, fuel up before heading to Putrajaya!

When I was in Kuala Lumpur for a holiday at the end of March, I spent a lot of time in Suria KLCC. I was like my “base” but it was all right. There was always something new to see and I could even take a seat and get some work done comfortably and nobody bothered me.

The first day I was in KLCC, there was this display to promote Alice in Wonderland in 3D. I actually had planned to catch it in TGV KLCC when I was there just to get the 3D experience because as far as I know, 3D is still not available in Ipoh but I may be wrong, (well, actually any 3D movie would do), but I couldn’t fit in the time, unfortunately.

Friends who caught the movie told me that it was not up to expectation and one person even commented that this movie has totally shattered the fantasy she had of this fairy tale. I wonder what awful ending this movie has! Need more feedback, please!